The wonders we see in the universe “should draw us out of ourselves,” an Ivy League scientist said last week, “looking out not just towards the wonders themselves and towards the truths they reveal, but also towards the source of all truths and the ultimate Creator of all things.”
Karin Öberg, professor of astronomy and director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University, said her work as a scientist has helped her to appreciate that we live in a universe that “has a beginning, a middle, and an end that’s unfolding over time.”
She also said that belief in God, far from being an impediment to scientific inquiry, actually can be helpful for scientists because of the “sure foundation” that belief in a Creator provides. Öberg herself is a convert from atheism.
“I think we should feel quite confident that having a true philosophy, and a true religion, should make it easier to make scientific discoveries, and not the opposite,” Öberg said in a Jan. 13 speech.
Karin Öberg delivers a keynote address at the Wonder Conference on Jan. 13, 2023. Credit: Word on Fire/Screenshot
Öberg delivered the second keynote address Jan. 13 at the Wonder Conference, organized by the Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire, which took place in Grapevine, Texas, and attracted about 1,000 participants.
Öberg, a Swedish-born scientist who serves on the board of the international Society of Catholic Scientists, primarily studies the formation of stars and planets. The “empty” space between stars — what’s known as the “interstellar medium” — is not actually empty at all but contains vast quantities of gas and dust. Over millions of years, interstellar clouds can start to collapse in on themselves, and that is how stars form, Öberg said.
Many scientists today and in the past have been guided in their scientific inquiry by their faith, Öberg said.

An exiled priest, Father Erick Díaz, and a human rights defender, attorney Yader Morazán, have charged that the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua is manipulating and “fabricating” witnesses for the trial that it is preparing against the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez.
Díaz, who lives in exile in the United States after leaving his country in September 2022, said on Facebook that the regime “has fabricated” a list of witnesses “to testify against Bishop Rolando.”
The prelate has been a critic of the abuses of the Ortega dictatorship. Beginning Aug. 4, 2022, the Nicaraguan police surrounded the chancery when he and a group of priests, seminarians, and a layman were inside and forcibly confined them for two weeks, until around 3 a.m. on Aug. 19, when they broke into the building and hauled everyone away.
All were taken to the capital of Managua, where the bishop is being held under house arrest, and the others are incarcerated in “El Chipote” prison, notorious for torturing political prisoners.
At a Jan. 10 hearing, amid complaints of irregularities in the proceedings, the court hearing his case determined that Álvarez, accused of “conspiracy” and spreading “fake news” against the regime, will be brought to trial.

On Jan 22, 2023 Pope Francis celebrated a special Mass mark-ing the Day of the Word of God, during which he conferred the ministry of lector on seven lay people, five of them women, and said the Gospel is intended primarily for the sick and far away.
Francis formally opened the ministry of lector, along with that of acolyte, to women in a 2021 decree. He established the Day of the Word of God on the third Sunday in ordinary time in 2019.
In his homily for the Jan. 22 Mass, the pope noted that Jesus in the scriptures is “always on the move, on his way to others.”
“On no occasion in his public life does he give us the idea that he is a stationary teacher, a professor seated on a chair; on the contrary, we see him as an itinerant and a pilgrim, travelling through towns and villages, encountering faces and their stories,” he said.
In the Gospels, Jesus uses the Word of God to heal and lift people out of darkness, Francis said, insisting that the Word of God is not only destined “for the right-eous of Israel, but for all.”
Jesus, he said, wants to reach “those far away, he wants to heal the sick, he wants to save sinners, he wants to gather the lost sheep and lift up those whose hearts are weary and oppressed. Jesus ‘reaches out’ to tell us that God’s mercy is for everyone.”

On, January 23 the president of the German Bishops’ Conference said he welcomed a new letter from the Vatican detailing concerns about the push for a permanent synodal council — a new controlling body of the Church in Germany.
In a statement published on January 23, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg said the German diocesan bishops had discussed the letter and would seek to discuss the matter further “in the near future.”
At the same time, Bätzing dismissed concerns that a German synodal council would have authority over the bishops’ conference and undermine the authority of individual bishops as “unfounded.”
As CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-lang-uage news partner, reported, these concerns were addressed in the latest letter from the Vatican because five German bishops asked Rome to do so.
The bishops of Cologne, Regensburg, Passau, Eichstätt, and Augsburg wrote to the Vatican on Dec. 21, 2022. They raised what Bätzing acknowledged on Monday were “justified and necessary questions” — in parti-cular, whether bishops could be compelled to abide by such a council’s authority.
This was not the case, the Vatican’s latest letter noted. The message, written in German, reminded Bishop Bätzing that according to Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council teaches “that episcopal consecration, together with the office of sanctifying, also confers the office of teaching and of governing, which, however, of its very nature, can be exercised only in hierarchical communion with the head and the members of the college.”
Running to four pages, the latest Vatican letter to Germany said it was approved by Pope Francis. It was signed by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin; the prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Luis Ladaria; and the prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet.
Warning of a threat of a new schism from Germany, the Vatican already intervened in July 2022 against a German synodal council.
The latest missive, dated January 16, informed Bätzing “that neither the Synodal Way, nor any body established by it, nor any bishops’ conference has the competence to establish the ‘synodal council’ at the national, diocesan, or parish level.”

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, 90, may have had to wait almost three years but he finally gained a private audience with Pope Francis, the day after the Jan. 5 funeral for retired Pope Benedict XVI.
“It was wonderful. He was so very warm,” Zen told Jesuit magazine America after the audience.
Zen said he thanked Francis for giving Hong Kong “a good bishop,” by appointing Jesuit Father Stephen Chow in 2021 over the top of other more conservative, pro-China candidates. He said Francis quipped, “He’s a Jesuit!”
He also told the pope about his decade-long pastoral ministry visiting prisoners in Hong Kong’s jails and that he had baptized a number of prisoners when they requested the sacrament.
“Benedict’s death served to open recent wounds over the deal”
Cardinal Zen had previously travelled to Rome in 2020, seeking an audience with Pope Francis after sending him a letter concerning the Vatican’s controversial deal with the Chinese Communist Party regarding the appointment of bishops but did not manage to see him. Pope Benedict’s death served to open recent wounds over the deal.

Days before Christmas, Chri-stians in Nigeria buried 40 people killed in terror attacks in the nor-thern Nigerian state of Kaduna, where several villages have been attacked this month by suspected terrorists from the Fulani tribe of northern Nigeria.
At a Dec. 22 inter-denomi-national memorial service, mour-ners were encouraged to take de-fensive measures against a years-long spate of terrorism and viole-nce in the largely Christian farm-ing communities of northern and central Nigeria – especially as government security officials have been criticized for failing to pre-vent terrorist attacks.
At the open-air prayer service ceremony, Fr. Benjamin Bala ex-horted Nigerians to “be ready in … ‘Holy anger,’ to respond to the natural sense for self-preservation which is also both divine and con-stitutional.”
“This requires us to do all within the law and our faith to and protect our lives. In Genesis 9:5, God says he will demand an account of every life; beast and man from us. Yes, God is our refuge and protector. But we must cooperate with him at all times to keep us safe and secure,” the priest said.
“These are indeed trying times for us. We cannot afford to be asleep. We must keep awake. We must not allow ourselves to give in to the antics of our atta-ckers. Let us not allow them to push us into doing things that are unlawful and acting against our Christian faith. Our faith teaches us to constantly pray and watch.”
The 40 victims include 33 men and boys, and 7 women and girls of several Christian traditions: 22 Catholics, 16 Evangelicals, and 2 Baptists.
The youngest victim of the terror attacks was two years old. The oldest was 65. Among the dead were 6 members of one family – father, mother and four children.
The victims were part of Malagum 1 and Sakong village communities in the southern part of the Kaduna state.

The COVID-19 pandemic touched nearly every aspect of American life. Schools, offices, grocery stores, and churches faced daunting challenges in the early days of the pandemic in their efforts to operate while keeping their employees, members, and the broader community safe. For churches and religious organizations, concerns over COVID-19 led many to pause traditional in-person worship services. A recent Pew Research Centre study found that nearly one in three churches or religious organizations were completely closed in summer 2020, while others moved outside or online. By March 2022, most were offering some type of regular service, but only 43% of religious Americans reported that services currently being offered by their place of worship were back to their pre-pandemic operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted religious participation for millions of Americans. In summer 2020, only 13% of Americans reported attending in-person worship services. This rebounded to 27% by March 2022, but rates of worship attendance were still lower than they were before the pandemic. However, the pandemic did not appear to affect one’s faith, with most adults reporting that their religious affiliation today was no different than it was pre-pandemic. In fact, one study showed that the experience of the pandemic may have even strengthened many Americans’ religious faith.

Three Kings parade Poland Three Kings parades went down the streets of 800 Polish towns and cities Jan. 6, 2023, for the feast of the Epiphany, with estimates of some 1.5 million people taking part in what is believed to be the largest street Nativity pageant in the world. | Justyna Galant/CNA
Three Kings parades Poland Three Kings parades went down the streets of 800 Polish towns and cities Jan. 6, 2023, for the feast of the Epiphany, with estimates of some 1.5 million people taking part in what is believed to be the largest street Nativity pageant in the world.
Three Kings parades went down the streets of 800 Polish towns and cities Jan. 6 for the feast of the Epiphany, with estimates of some 1.5 million people taking part in what is believed to be the largest street Nativity pageant in the world. This year, carols were sung not only in Polish but also in Ukrainian.
Jan. 6 is the feast of the Epiphany, which is commonly referred to as Three Kings Day, or the day of the three Magi. In Poland, it is a day off. In many cities across the country, colourful processions are held to commemorate the event, with participants remembering the journey of the three Wise Men who arrived in Bethlehem to pay homage to the new-born Jesus.

Patriarch Sako began his message by noting that, over the Christmas period, he listened to the sermons of various Eastern clergy, and watched their television interviews.
“I found,” he wrote, “that the ideas put forward are outdated, and that what they said does not communicate with the current reality (…). Therefore, it does not move the recipients, nor does it give them hope, nor does it give them a feeling of reassurance and refreshment.” Such preaching, he warned, discourages young people from coming to church, and, “if the situation continues as it is now, future generations will be without faith.”
Part of this problem, he said, is that the Eastern Catholic Churches “did not benefit much” from the Second Vatican Council or 2010’s Special Assembly on the Middle East.
What is the solution? Priests, Patriarch Sako said, should bear in mind the close relationship – insisted upon by the late Pope Benedict XVI – between faith and reason, and speak “honestly, transparently, [and] rationally.” The Church, he stressed, should respond to “cultural and social changes”, just as Christ did.
“Truth and renewal are at the heart of the Church’s nature,” the Patriarch emphasised.
Given the precarious state of the Eastern Churches, Patriarch Sako went on to say, “priority must be given to the issue of unity”, which is “the only guarantee of our survival.”
Such unity, he stressed, does not mean erasing the “spiritual, cultural, and theological heritage” of each particular Church. Rather, “unity is about accepting differences and respecting them through mutual humility and fraternal encounter, working together based on the Gospel.”
“In division there is no future for us, in unity and marching together the guarantee of our survival,” he wrote, urging the Eastern Churches to adopt a synodal style of co-operation.
The Patriarch concluded his letter by drawing a parallel between the current situation of Middle Eastern Churches and the city of Constantinople before its conquest by the Ottomans. As enemy forces were gathering at the gates, he wrote, “Byzantine theologians were arguing about the gender of angels.”